Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday that the starting salaries of teachers should double, up to $65,000 a year, and that excellent teachers should be able to make up to $150,000.

“I’ve been very radical on this. I think that young teachers, we should double their salaries [to] $60,000, $65,000. I think that great teachers should be able to make $130,000, $140,000, $150,000 — pick a number,” said Duncan on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Duncan suggested those figures while responding to a question about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal that high-performing teachers should be eligible for $20,000 bonuses.

Both base-pay increases and bonuses are necessary, he said.

“I think we need to raise the base pay [and be eligible for bonuses]. I think teachers should be able to make a lot more money based on the difference they’re making in students’ lives — and willingness to take on tough assignments,” he said.

The education secretary — speaking ahead of remarks by President Barack Obama at the University of Michigan on tuition affordability — said higher wages are necessary to attract good teachers, especially with the baby boomer generation retiring.

“We have to recognize and reward excellence. We have to recruit the next generation of teachers into our nation’s classrooms, with the baby boom generation retiring. The right way to do that is [to] offer more pay and asking more of them as well,” he said.

Duncan said teachers have too often been the target for criticisms about the education system.

“We have beaten down educators. We have to elevate the profession, strengthen the profession. Great teachers, great principals make a huge difference in our nation’s children,” said the education secretary.